


Method

by cher



Category: Sherlock (TV) RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-10
Updated: 2012-12-10
Packaged: 2017-11-20 18:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/588571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cher/pseuds/cher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Benedict is, above all, an actor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Method

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gnomad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gnomad/gifts).



You're an actor.

You're doing what you do, reading scripts opposite face after face. You're looking for magic because this role needs it, must have magic, must be so full of the love story of these two that it leaps from the TV screen.

You're not finding it and not finding it, and the scenes are getting stale under your tongue. You love this role, wrap yourself up in the glory of this character, like playing Shakespeare but better. You want desperately for the show to work.

Then Martin comes; Charlie Brown in a striped jumper. He does not look the part. His last role was a terrible mess of a movie. It shows. You remember him in Love Actually, naked and charming, and although you've not properly met him before, you like him.

He reads the scene, and you feel something happening to you. You are not Ben, you’re Sherlock, and you have found someone fascinating, someone _not boring_. You've found the magic. You want to sweep this person up with you and never let them go. You do. He comes with you.

The applause is shocking, startling, out of place. You can't understand what has happened for a moment. But you are not Sherlock. You’re Ben, and you can't take Martin home with you. You can only smile until it hurts and know that he will be cast as your Watson. There won't be any argument.

You're in a bit of daze that night. You've never felt so taken over before, so purely in the character and in the moment, so perfectly in sync with another actor. It's marvellous and beautiful. You refuse invitations to drinks and go home to bask in the feeling. Olivia is away. You are, for this one night, glad.

Filming starts and it's still magic. Martin turns out to be screamingly hilarious and you spend your time together laughing. You’ve had excellent chemistry with actors before but you have never had it like this. You feel addicted. Martin makes you a better actor than you've ever been in your life. You love acting opposite him and you never want it to end.

It does end. Seeing Martin in the explosive vest haunts you. Sherlock is the kind of role that gets into your brain, makes you think about the world differently, is hard to put down at the end of the day. Sherlock's terror for John is hard to shake.

You start filming on War Horse and the terror of that role is hard as well. You huddle into your officer's coat and wish that you weren't quite so method. It's exhausting. You miss Sherlock's emotional remove. Acting opposite Martin has spoiled you and you work hard to hide it. 

You and Martin go on endless talk shows and are invited to all of the award ceremonies. You win. He wins. You get drunk together and sit up late talking, and you think you've never been so happy. He wears his Charlie Brown sweater and looks harmless, and then he opens his mouth and he's a magnificent bastard.

You are avoiding the obvious.

He goes to New Zealand. You miss him and miss him. He's cast. The role will make him. You're overjoyed for him. He is brilliant and should have every chance to show it. You resent him; he is so many time zones away you lose track and have to set your watch for dual time. Martin is forgiving but you can't keep calling him at three in the morning by mistake.

You tell yourself it is definitely by mistake.

You hear there are other roles going. You talk to your agent. Martin calls you, exuberant, to say he has spoken to Peter Jackson on your behalf and you had better be as good as he's made out. He's sure you can be a great dragon and not to feel you have to practice in a real cave, for fear of pneumonia again. You're more touched than you would ever let Martin know.

You want, more than you want the role itself, not to disappoint him. You're aware of being faintly ridiculous, but you turn all the lights off for a few hours and crawl around on your belly, thinking dragon thoughts. When you audition for Peter, the treasure you imagine yourself guarding is not gold.

When you get the role, the film credit is the last thing you think about. The role is your ticket to the New Zealand set.

You can't remember when you've had more fun than you do filming motion capture opposite Martin. You feel an enormous idiot in the capture suit, but then your dragon-thoughts take over and you're just as fascinated by Martin sneaking into your life as Sherlock was. You enjoy learning him all over again. You're a magnificent dragon.

You and Olivia break up. You're equal parts sad and relieved. You're sure Olivia will be happier and you are uncomfortably aware that you will probably talk to her as often (as little) now as you have done for some time.

You audition for Star Trek over the phone. You're now an intergalactic villain. John, your agent, is over the moon. You just want to get back to the Baker Street set, and beginning to film season two is desperately wonderful.

Martin is away a lot for Hobbit publicity. You'd like to go with him but your role is not in front of the cameras and you're not needed. You go to awards ceremonies, nominations falling out of your ears this season. You make several acceptance speeches that are more about Martin than anything else. You watch him win his BAFTA and you're so happy you almost cry.

You've admitted to yourself that you're in love.

You have not told Olivia. You do not tell Anna. You have not told Amanda. You have not told Martin. You are an actor, and you can be someone else whenever you need to be. You play the very convincing part of Martin's friend.

It is your life's greatest role.

**Author's Note:**

> My apologies if I've made any timeline errors here - it is entirely possible and not the fault of my wonderful beta.


End file.
